Capitals - Penguins Round 1 matchup
Ripped off from Ryan..
Season Series
Game 1: PENGUINS 2 at CAPITALS 3
Game 2: PENGUINS 4 at CAPITALS 1
Game 3: CAPITALS 3 at PENGUINS 3
Game 4: CAPITALS 7 at PENGUINS 2
Caps won the season series 2 - 1 - 1 with 14 Goals for and 11 against.
Team Leaders
Pens:
Goals: 37 - Alex Ovechkin
Assists: 58 - Jason Spezza
Points: 94 - Jason Spezza
+/-: +16 - Jason Spezza
PIMs: 176 - Mike Komisarek
Dman: 74 - Sergie Gonchar
Goal: 3.24 GAA 25 W 30 L 10 T .883 sv% - Vesa Toskala
Caps:
Goals: 32 - Steven Reinprecht
Assists: 51 - Rod Brind a'Mour
Points: 80 - Rod Brind a'Mour
+/-: + 20 - Kim Johnsson
PIMs: 175 - Pavol Kubina
Dman: 51 - Jaroslav Spacek
Goal: 3.10GAA 35 W 31 L 4 T .890 sv% - Martin Brodeur
While it seems that the Pens have the Offensive Advantage, the Capitals actually scored one more goal than the Pens during the year.
Matchups
Forwards
Pens:
It is hard to argue that Spezza, Ovechkin, Richards, Alfredsson, Koivu, Plekanec overmatch the Caps top 6. These high-powered offensive guys will be tough to handle.
Caps:
The Caps boast some good depth on forward, but only one player (Rod Brind'aMour can be considered a superstar). There is a large Veteran Presence up front as well with Brindamour, Modano and Tkachuk all provided lots of leadership. The team needs Reinprecht, Roy and Streit to step up in order to win.
Edge: Pens
Defense
Pens:
Gonchar, Markov, Schneider, Komisark is an excellent top 4 with shut-down potential. These four will see alot of ice.
Caps:
Kubina, Johnsson, Spacek and Hainsey as a top 4 is unremarkable. However, Johnsson has been a premiere shut-down guy all season, and all 4 of these guys put up between 42 and 51 pts.
Edge: Pens
Goaltending
Pens:
The Duo of Toskala and Emery has been underwhelming for the Pens this year. Toskala will need to be good in this series.
Caps:
The Veteran duo of Brodeur and Belfour provides alot of leadership and Experience betwen the pipes. While Brodeur did not play up to his ratings this season, he was able to pull out wins and vault the caps up the standings this season.
Edge: Caps
Bottom- Line:
This series is most likely a 6 or 7 game series. Brodeur will have to survive the onslaught of the Pens top 6 forwards, and Toskala will have to be solid enough to give the pens enough of a cushion.
This will likely be a high-scoring exciting series.
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